The Unlucky Sap, No. 023

Cultivation could wait. Yan Qi was more interested in Wen Que's supposed injury. At least, the girl looked fine on the surface, apart from being terribly weak—

Under Yan Qi's persistent, curious, almost stubborn scrutiny, Wen Que said reluctantly, "Little Martial Uncle, please let me off! It really doesn't look good. Let me keep this last shred of dignity!"

Wen Que: Aaaah! Can't I keep the last scrap of my idol image?!

Yan Qi had only just returned, so he was willing to spare his new martial niece some embarrassment. Besides, even without seeing it for himself, he could roughly guess what had happened.

"All right, I won't look." Seeing that the girl was nearly in tears, Yan Qi laughed. "But we still need to deal with that lingering tribulation lightning."

Yan Qi might have looked like a wandering swordsman, not a cultivator in the slightest, but he was actually a Spirit Transformation cultivator every bit Venerable Falling Maple's equal!

Then Yan Qi examined her and discovered that things were not as simple as he had expected.

The lingering power of the lightning tribulation had sunk entirely into Wen Que's sea of consciousness. Miraculously, it had caused no substantial harm. It had blended with her sea of consciousness so completely that it seemed to have been part of it all along.

Well, there was some harm. Her hair still hadn't grown back.

No wonder the young medical cultivator had been helpless. This barely counted as an injury, and ordinary treatments were useless. Only a high-level cultivator could forcibly extract the lingering tribulation lightning.

But given the way it had settled in her, forcing it out would put a considerable strain on Wen Que's frail body. What aftereffects it might leave were anyone's guess.

Yan Qi stroked his chin and fell into thought.

Wen Que grew increasingly uneasy, afraid of what her little martial uncle might say. She had always thought being struck by lightning hadn't been so bad. Apart from her head feeling a little chilly, nothing was wrong. Her hair might grow back once her master emerged from seclusion, or even before then. If it never did, she hardly went out anyway. She could stay bald and buy a few more pretty hats.

But seeing Yan Qi's reaction, she was no longer sure.

It felt like waiting for a doctor to deliver the verdict on a medical report, only for the doctor to tell her to go home and eat something nice. Am I beyond saving?

Yan Qi looked down and saw Wen Que wearing an expression that said she was at death's door. He nearly burst out laughing. "What's with that face? Hahahaha! It's nothing serious. I'm just thinking about the best way to handle it. Don't worry, this is an enormous opportunity, and I already have an idea. Once I've had a look around the library, I'll have an answer in no time."

Wen Que stared. "Huh?"

Yan Qi sounded relaxed, but she couldn't help suspecting that he faced some difficult diagnosis. He even had to consult the library. Was she really beyond saving?

Yan Qi's laughter was still audible long after he had walked away.

Wen Que: "..."

Wen Que did not see Lin Chunhe until three days after his return from home. Innocent as ever, he failed to notice her expression. Beaming with delight, he brought her a plate of pastries.

"Third Senior Sister! Look! Pastries! Try one and see if you like it!"

"When did you get back? Weren't you at the Qiu Family estate protecting Second Senior Sister during her seclusion?"

Qiu Jinyou had still been in seclusion when Ming Xi and Wen Que had left their little junior brother at the Qiu Family estate, calling it protection for her. The guileless Lin Chunhe had never questioned Ming Xi's intentions.

"Mm! Second Senior Sister came out of seclusion a few days ago. She's a Golden Core cultivator now, though she's still consolidating her cultivation, so I took the chance to go home."

Of course. His senior sisters had each gone home to visit their families, and Lin Chunhe missed his too.

"Try one, Third Senior Sister. I just brought them back from home!"

Wen Que paused.

Wait. She had suddenly remembered something.

[Wait?]

The instant Lin Chunhe heard that thought, he stumbled. So much time had passed that he had almost forgotten: after being struck by lightning, this unassuming third senior sister of his seemed to have awakened a strange talent that let them hear her chattering thoughts.

Stranger still, those jumbled thoughts, seemingly baseless and baffling, always managed to hit on uncanny details, as though foretelling the future.

Second Senior Sister had said it was probably a glimpse of heavenly secrets.

Lin Chunhe might not have been especially quick-witted, but he had the instincts of a small animal. Hearing her thoughts about someone else was one thing. When they turned to him, he had a bad feeling.

It was like settling in to enjoy someone else's gossip, only to discover it was about himself. Back at Second Senior Sister's home, he had vaguely heard Wen Que think something concerning him. He had hoped that if he paid it no mind, nothing would come of it.

He had more or less forgotten the matter since then. Now, hearing her thoughts again, that awful feeling surged back, leaving him dumbstruck.

[Has our silly little junior brother grown up without ever seeing anything good? Does he really not know, or is he really that foolish?]

[His medical skills are so impressive, his talent for alchemy so great, and his eye for medicinal ingredients so keen. Why does he turn into a little fool with bad eyesight, a bad brain, and not a shred of basic judgment whenever something like this comes up?]

Lin Chunhe: ???

"Pastries? Where did you get them? If I remember right, Little Junior Brother, you don't particularly like sweets, do you?"